Aria, Chapter 4 Summary

Richard feels that he is becoming a man. He hurries through his days, addressing only those who speak to him. While on a bus ride, he takes notice of the language a group of black teenagers speak. Although their confidence annoys him, he envies the closeness they seem to have. He does not embrace his envious feelings for too long, because he thinks that Black English, just like Spanish, should not be taught in schools because of its underlying lesson of separateness. He thinks that bilingual education teaches that a public person can be a private person at the same time. Richard does not believe this is possible. Private language spoken in public becomes an accepted language that eventually loses its intimate meaning. For his reason, Richard believes that the closeness and intimacy one can feel from language comes from the people talking and not...